The invention relates to a camera system for photogrammetrical applications as well as for applications in aerial reconnaissance.
Digital cameras are increasingly used in photogrammetry as well as in aerial reconnaissance. On the one hand, there is the desire for a high spatial resolution of the images to be recorded and, on the other hand, the desire for recording color information. Maximum spatial resolution is presently achievable with panchromatic cameras which only make possible the recordation of black/white information.
The space which is available for the entire camera system in aircraft is limited. For this reason, there is the desire to have a compact arrangement of several cameras.
It is the object of the invention to provide a camera system having at least two first cameras and two second cameras which is configured so as to provide an economic utilization of space.
The camera system of the invention includes at least two first cameras, which each have their own objective. The optical axes of the objectives are inclined to each other. The camera system furthermore includes at least two second cameras which are mounted displaced to these first cameras in the viewing direction of the first cameras.
The optical axes of the objectives of the first cameras are arranged inclined to each other and, as a consequence thereof, these axes intersect. For this reason, the smallest envelope, which surrounds the aperture cones of the first cameras, has a constriction. The second cameras are preferably mounted in the region of this constriction.
In a further advantageous embodiment, at least three first cameras are mounted symmetrically to an axis of symmetry and the second cameras are mounted displaced to the first cameras in the direction of this symmetry axis.
Especially advantageous are a total of four first cameras mounted symmetrically to a symmetry axis. With four cameras, a high image coverage is achieved, that is, a large simultaneously detected angular region.
The first cameras can be panchromatic digital cameras with which the recordation of the topography, which is to be measured, takes place with high lateral resolution but without color information. The second cameras are then designed as multichromatic digital cameras with which also the color information of the passed-over topography is recorded but with reduced lateral resolution.
Preferably, four second cameras are also provided which likewise are mounted symmetrically to the symmetry axis of the first cameras. The optical axes of the second cameras can then be aligned parallel to each other.
For the later photogrammetric evaluation of the image information recorded with the camera system, all aperture cones of the first and second cameras should have a common central overlapping region.